I am not a morning person. I'm especially grouchy after being out late drinking $7 beers and watching the KG-free Celtics in a matchup with the Wizards that was much too hotly contested.
So you can imagine how I was feeling when I got an email entitled "Breaking Sports News" that confirmed my worst fears about Kevin Garnett's injury. To the co-workers I startled when I began screaming obscenities - my bad.
I guess we all knew this was coming. He hadn't played for 8 straight games, and in the 4 games he appeared in a few weeks ago, he looked every bit the part of a guy who's knees aren't what they were when he was 23. Garnett is almost 33 years old. The only speed he knows is full speed, and he's been playing that way since he was 19 years old. Even if he was able to play, he would be a shadow of what he was even last year.
So where does that leave the Celtics? In everyone's rush to mourn the Celtics playoff chances this year, we forget that they were 18-7 without him, including a 10-point victory over the Cavaliers. Granted, they did get worked last Sunday, but it's not like they're going to roll over and die.
Leon Powe and Glen Davis have stepped up in a big way this year, and I think they're capable of shouldering Garnett's offense and rebounding numbers. Mikki Moore has been playing better of late as well, although he still leads the league in stupid fouls and is always a threat to commit them at a rapid pace. I'm fairly confident that his offense can be made up for by these three guys.
Less clear is the defense. The Celtics don't have a single lockdown defender on the roster, other than maybe Rajon Rondo. Pierce plays solid defense, but he's going to be guarding the other team's best player on most nights. Without Garnett, the Celtics are an average to above average defensive team, which will be enough to get them through the first round and maybe the second, but if and when they get to Cleveland, above average is not going to cut it.
Even if they can overcome the defensive shortcomings, two of the best teams in years stand at the top of the heap, and we can make the argument that even with Garnett at 100%, they most likely would not have pulled off a repeat. But stranger things have happened.
As Garnett himself once said..."Anything is possible!"
